By Steve Rowen, Partner
10/27/2007
Shopping on Black Friday is sheer lunacy.
But Paula, Brian, Nikki and I operate a company with a fairly large footprint, working from offices in Miami, San Francisco, Denver and Boston respectively.
So when Nikki proposed that we each head out to “buy something’ in our own corner of the US on Black Friday, we all recognized the opportunity to present this special edition – literally reporting from four distinct corners of our nation on the status of how retailers’ most profitable day would play out.
Personally, my Black Friday was a bit more distributed than most sane people would prefer to endure. While I live in Boston, extended family “requirements” saw me driving to Southbury, CT on Friday morning and Philadelphia, PA later on that night. Yikes.
9 AM, Boston, MA. Our early morning drive out of Boston was quiet. I quite easily navigated past the small traffic jam slowly building at Memorial Drive’s turnoff for the CambridgeSide Galleria Mall (Best Buy, Game Stop, Macys).
11AM, Farmington, CT. But by the time we were approaching the Westfarms Mall in Farmington, CT, curiosity had gotten the best of me. The turnoff to Route 4 didn’t seem too daunting, and we needed to bring a gift to our hosts. Westfarms Mall seemed like an entirely viable option to kill both birds with one stone.
Nope. The mall was sheer madness. Horns honked as angered drivers vied for parking spots. Mission aborted. I pulled into a tiny liquor store and waited in line 15 minutes to purchase a nice bottle of Pinot Noir instead. Our Connecticut hosts would have to be happy with that instead.
After a nice visit, we loaded into the car to make the much longer leg of the trip. I did, however, get a great piece of advice from my future father in law. “Make sure you take the George Washington Bridge on the way down to Philly. The Tappan Zee’s been backed up for hours.” Why I asked? Apparently there is a shopping mall directly on the westbound side of the Tap, and the GW is entirely commerce free. Thanks!
8PM, Trenton, NJ. I’ve made this drive so many times, and always take exit 9 off the Jersey Turnpike in New Brunswick. By doing so, southbound travelers can take Route 1 through a large part of central New Jersey and save a significant amount of time by avoiding the 95/295 debacle. But not today. I could have traveled the 2 lane road past massive amounts of retail commerce, including Princeton’s Forrestal Village and Lawrenceville’s Quaker Bridge Mall. Sorry team members, but I’ve already been in the car too long, and the traffic report for Route 1 is frightening: 95 it is.
What was interesting to note is while making this decision, KROQ DJs were reporting that Woodbury Commons, a massive outlet destination in Central Valley, NY had opened its doors at midnight. By 1AM on Friday morning – yes that’s right 1AM - there were no parking spaces available. Apparently the average Northeasterner is not as afraid to shop on Black Friday for more than a bottle of wine.
Let’s see how the partners made out. And as you enjoy this special Black Friday edition of RPW, please don’t hesitate to contact us with your own experiences!
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